Watch with a sweep second hand and running-indicator means



y 18, 1955 M. ETIENNE 3,183,659

WATCH WITH A SWEEP SECOND HAND AND RUNNING- Filed April 4, 1963 INDICATOR MEAN 2 Sheets-Sheet WM); as fins-2122 e M. ETIENNE 3,183,659 WATCH WITH A SWEEP SECOND HAND AND RUNNINGINDICATOR MEANS May 18, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed April 4, 1965 zra/rrrs I I INK mil! 7 9)? To P W/ar/ E7760? 7 United States Patent 3,183,659 WATCH WITH A SWEEP SECOND HAND AND RUNNING-INDICATOR MEANS Marius Etienne, Bienne, Switzerland, assignor to Montres Octo S.A., Bienne, Berne, Switzerland, a company limited by shares Filed Apr. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 270,716 Claims priority, application Switzerland, Apr. 9, 1962, 4,299/ 62 1 Claim. (Cl. 58-152) This invention relates to watches with a sweep second hand. 2

By glancing at a watch comprising a sweep second hand, as everybody carrying a wrist-watch does many times a day, it cannot be noticed whether the watch is running or has stopped, because the motion rate of the sweep second hand is too small to enable such a checking. If a watch with a sweep second stops, its owner notices it only the second or the third time he looks at his watch, after it has stopped, i.e. when he sees that his watch always shows the same time. The watch owner may thus have more or less trouble and miss for instance an appointment or a time-table time.

It is therefore an object of this invention to avoid these troubles by providing a Watch which enables its owner to notice at the first glance whether the watch is still running or has stopped.

For this purpose the watch according to this invention comprises a rotary indicating member coaxial to the sweep second and driven by the watch movement counterclockwise at substantially the same speed as the sweep second.

The presence of this extra indicating member enables the watch owner to notice at first glance the relative motion between said member and the sweep second, because the motion rate of said relative movement is approximately twice as great as that of the sweep second.

Watches which permit to check at first glance whether their movements are running are already known in the art. These known watches usually comprise an animated portion which has, however, the drawback that it extends over a great portion of the dial, thus compromitting reading the time, because the animated area also extends over a substantial portion of the hands.

A further object of this invention consists in arranging the extra indicating member, which is driven counterclockwise, on the periphery of the dial so that this member moves around the figures of the latter.

Still another object of this invention consists in providing driving means of the extra indicating member which are located below the dial, thus avoiding any interference with the usual hands of the watch.

Still further objects of the invention will become apparent in the course of the following description.

One embodiment of the watch according to the invention is represented diagrammatically and by way of example in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diametrical part sectional view of the watch according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the dial and of some watch movement parts, and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on a larger scale along line III-III of FIG. 2.

The watch represented in the drawings comprises a standard movement which includes a sweep second wheel I 1 journalled, on the one hand, in a bridge 2, and on the other hand, in a pipe 3 fixed to the base plate 4. Pipe 3 protrudes from the base plate surface adjacent to the dial 5 and this protruding portion of the pipe 3 serves as pivot for a cannon-pinion 6 carrying a driving wheel 7 friction- ICC ally mounted on a bearing surface of cannon-pinion 6. The latter in turn serves as pivot for an hour wheel 8.

In this standard movement the barrel 9 drives an eccentrically mounted second or great wheel 10 which drives a third wheel 11( FIG. 2). The pinion 12 of the third wheel (FIG. 3) drives wheel 7 mounted on cannonpinion 6. An hour hand 13, a minute hand 14 and a second hand 15 are secured in the usual manner to the hour wheel 8, the cannon-pinion 6 and the shaft of wheel 1, respectively. A minute wheel (not shown) meshes with the toothing 6a of cannon-pinion 6 and drives the hour wheel 8 in the usual manner.

In addition to these known elements the watch according to the invention further comprises a pinion 16 which meshes with the third wheel 11 as the pinion of the sweep second wheel 1. This pinion 16 is made integral with a shaft journalled in bridge 2 and base plate 4. On the dial side the shaft of pinion 16 is formed with a pivot projecting above the surface of base plate 4 adjacent to dial 5 and a wheel 17 is set onto this pivot. Wheel 17 meshes with a wheel 18 coaxial to hour wheel 8. Wheel 18 is located around a cylindrical bearing surface of a ring 19 secured to a plate 20 by means of screws 21. This plate 20 is provided with an annular projection 22 in order to reduce the friction between wheel 18 and the framework of the Watch movement. Plate 20 is itself secured to the base plate 4 by means of screws 23. Wheel 18 is axially held in place around ring 19 by means of, a spacer ring 24 fixed to ring 19 and plate 20 by means of screws 21. The inner surface of ring 19 is provided with a screw thread to enable securing the dial 5 to the watch movement by means of a stud 25 screwed into ring 19. For this purpose stud 25 comprises a cylindrical surface around which dial 5 is located and can be oriented conveniently. Stud 25 further comprises a slotted head 26 axially holding dial 5 in place and permitting screwing stud 25 into ring 19.

Since the dial is fixed to the watch movement frame only by its central portion, the whole space comprised between base plate 4 and dial 5 and extending around wheel 18 is free. Moreover, the diameter of dial 5 is made smaller than the opening 27 of the watch case bezel 28, as shown in FIG. 1, so as to leave a free annular space between the dial and the wall of opening 27. An arm 29, which can consist of a thin steel blade, is fixed to wheel 18 so as to extend between base plate 4 and dial 5 towards the periphery of the latter. The free end 30 of arm 29 is bent over dial 5 and an index 31 is fixed to this end 30.

The arrows of FIG. 2 show the directions in which the wheels described rotate. It can thus be observed that wheel 18, arm 29 and index 31 rotate counterclockwise. The diameters of wheels 1, 17, 18, respectively show that the speed of wheel 13 is substantially the same of that of wheel 1.

To provide the watch according to the invention with a satisfactory aesthetic appearance, index 31 has advantageously been given the form of a rocket and dial 5 is provided with figures consisting of a sun 32, a moon crescent 33, a globe 34 and stars 35 and 36, the latter being set at ditferent distances from the center of the dial, in order to give the impression of a planetarium.

Finally, the sun 32 indicating three hours can be made 1 with an independent central portion 37 which can be removed with a watch provided with a calendar. In this latter instance the annular portion of sun 32 surrounds a window provided through the dial and in which the month day indications appear.

Arm 29 can be made thin enough and be adjusted with a suflicient precision without leaving a great space between dial 5 and bezel 28, said space being masked by the thicker peripheral portion of the glass 38.

Although one embodiment of my invention has been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that various changes in the shape, sizes and arrangement of parts will appear obvious to those skilled in the art Within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A watch comprising: a movement with a frame, a sweep second shaft journalled in the center of said frame and driven by said movement at a speed of one revolution per minute, an hour wheel having a pipe coaxial to the sweep second shaft and a cylindrical bearing surface on said frame in the central portion thereof, said bearing surface extending around said pipe coaxially thereto; a circular dial carrying figures and having a central portion fixed to a portion of said frame located within said cylindrical bearing surface, the remaining dial portion thereby being axially spaced apart from said frame so as to form a free flat space therebetween; a casing enclosing said movement and said dial and having an opening concentric to said dial and with a diameter somewhat greater than that of the dial thus forming around the dial a narrow annular free space between the casing and the dial; a glass fixed to said casing and covering said opening, said glass having an outer rim portion masking said annular free space, a sweep second hand secured to said sweep second shaft; and an extra indicating member comprising a wheel mounted for rotation on said cylindrical bearing surface, a thin arm fixed to said wheel and extending radially through said free flat space and having a free end bent over the dial periphery thereby passing through said annular free space, and an index fixed to said free end and being farther remote from the dial center than said figures, said extra indicating member being driven counterclockwise by said movement at a speed substantially equal to that of the sweep second hand.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,120,599 12/14 Christensen 58-126 2,278,364 3/42 Bunnin 58-26 2,587,026 2/52 Beiser 58-126 X 2,791,853 5/57 Coons et a1. 58-127 X 3,011,304 12/61 Sundt 58-1725 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,100,300 3/55 France.

LEO SMILOW, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH P. STRIZAK, Examiner. 

